Color in Dreary Winter!

Again, I am not keeping up with the blogging thing too well, but I have managed to keep doing something creative most days even if it is only a tiny little something.  Pain levels seem to keep increasing no matter what I do, so it seems to take forever to do most projects…  I guess I just have to have more patience and be satisfied with doing things one little step a day…  This month I finally got out my dye supplies and equipment and have been brightening up the dreary, blustery winter days with Color!  This year I began with 9 colors, two I have never tried, so the first fabric I dyed was a sample of the colors.

Die Batch 2013-1 After Dyes Added

Die Batch 2013-1 After Dyes Added- L-R: Lemon Yellow, Pomegranate, Cerulean Blue, Fuchsia, Midnight Blue, Fire Red, Turquoise, Deep Yellow with Jet Black top and bottom

Since I wanted the colors to keep to themselves as much as possible for my sample, I placed a second yard of fabric scrunched on the bottom of the container to “catch the drips” so to speak to see what would happen…

Back Yard Snowfall- More lack of color in the great outdoors.

Back Yard Snowfall- More lack of color in the great outdoors.

As this little group of photos show, things have been a bit unsettled as usual for winter here in NE PA.  The day I took these photos we were supposed to have rain… as you can see the precipitation was a bit white and fluffy instead.

Front Door Garden Alive with Birds and More

Front Door Garden Alive with Birds and More… Can you see what non-bird is out here?

Squirrel Under Feeder

Squirrel Under Feeder- He seemed to  find a jackpot of seeds dropped from the feeders the birds hadn’t gotten yet.  He didn’t mind the snow collecting on his fur.

Front Door Garden in Snow Lacking Color

Front Door Garden- More snow adding up, but the garden is still alive with birds.

With all the snow falling, it was good to see some color indoors on my fabric.

Dye Batch 2013-1 Top Piece- Color Trials

Dye Batch 2013-1 Top Piece- Color Trials

Here is the Sample Yard of fabric after the washout… I did get areas of the single colors, with a lot of areas where the colors blended into each other. You can see that I sort of fan-folded-scrunched the fabric so the colors are at an angle and it gave me more room to trial the colors. You can also barely see where I put the small bits of black on the non yellow corners…  I got a neat black cherry color in the lower right corner.

Dye Batch 2013-1 Bottom Piece

Dye Batch 2013-1 Bottom Piece

The fabric scrunched under the sample piece has some really interesting areas. This photo shows the fabric flipped end for end in relation to the top sample piece. Since it mopped up the extra  dye, the colors did a lot more blending and I got some great crystal-like patterning from the scrunching.  While I was getting color in the kitchen on fabric, the first flower of the year was beginning to bloom in the greenhouse pond… The Water Iris usually bloom as the days begin to lengthen.

Water Iris Bud in the Pond

Water Iris Bud in the Pond

Water Iris Open Flower

Water Iris Open Flower

Water Iris Flower Up Close

Water Iris Flower Up Close

Roxie Posing Near the Pond

Roxie Posing Near the Pond- The black nursery pots in the pond are there to keep Vladdi from flopping into the water, smushing the water lilies… Not so pretty, but they work and still leave plenty of space for furry faces to get drinks.

Our little greenhouse does give me a little bit of flower color in winter… Some of the succulents that live here year round usually bloom early winter, followed by tropical vines growing on the table at the far end just out of the photo.  I have tried to use this area as a wet studio, but with 2 dogs and 3 cats living here and coming in and out through the cat and dog doors, there is way too much hair, dirt and dust. Also walking through is often tricky with the fur kids lying about soaking up the heat.  The wood stove we use for heat also lives out here, so that adds to the dust, etc.

OK, Back to the fabric….

Fabric and Color Samples Batching

Fabric and Color Samples Batching

The next pieces of fabric to be dyed were also more or less samples to see what single colors would do with severe scrunching, and to try some mixes of color. I have  a bolt of cotton  to play with and also a few yards of what I thought was a cotton poly blend, so a fat quarter of each fabric went into the first sample containers. I also added a half yard or  quarter on the bottom of each container in the hopes of having lighter shades.

Rinsing Fabric... During one of the Soak Stages

Rinsing Fabric… During one of the Soak Stages

The first fabrics to begin the rinsing stage… The tiny piece lower right used up a bit of extra green with a dab of turquoise on top… The other  colors are deep yellow and pomegranate.  According to Jane Dunnewold in her class, The Art of Cloth Dyeing on Craftsy.com,   The dyes should  batch for 24 hours for best colors…. I waited about 6 for the ones above…. Waiting is soo hard! 🙂  I did let the blue next to sit that long…  The classes available on Craftsy are great!

Mixed Blues on 2 Different Fabrics

Mixed Blues on 2 Different Fabrics- The fabric I thought was part poly must be 100% cotton… No difference in color, but the one is softer and a bit thinner… Feels so nice.

Mixed Blues, Pomegranate Mix, Pomegranate, Greens

Finished….  Mixed Blues, Pomegranate Fuschsia Mix, Pomegranate, Greens

The first pieces of fabric I did were scrunched really tightly in the containers so that I would get the light areas and the crystal-like patterning.  Some of the bottom pieces of fabric will need over-dyeing since there is more white than color.  The blue in the above photo is a 1:1 mix of the Cerulean and Midnight blues… I found I loved that combo in past years…   After getting some fabric done, I decided to pull out some white or nearly white shirts so that I could upgrade my wardrobe…  I always look for white cotton shirts on clearance, wear them till I get them a bit spotted or dingy, then add some color to give them new life.

Shirts and More Batching in Their Containers

Shirts and More Batching in Their Containers

I ended up updating 6 shirts, a pair of socks, a bit of fabric and a few more things.  I started by pulling out some sweaters I have that I needed shirts to coordinate with and tried to get the right colors…  As you can see, I tend to like the blues, pinks and purples the best….

Bright Paint Shirts- Two previously abused shirts given new life.

Bright Paint Shirts- Two previously abused shirts given new life.

Ahhh… Starting with the really bright stuff….  These shirts were mostly white splattered with various colors of paint from painting fabric during summers.  The shirts tend to collect a lot of splotches that are not that fashionable… The bright colors hide what is there already and will let me keep using them till they fall apart.

Letchworth Shirt Dyed- A free shirt I got when I did my first Art Show at Letchworth State Park in Western NYS

Letchworth Shirt Dyed- A free shirt I got when I did my first Art Show at Letchworth State Park in Western NYS in 1997- This was the worst looking one…. My most used painting shirt…

Butterfly Shirt Dyed- I think I paid $1 for this one years ago.

Butterfly Shirt Dyed- I think I paid $1 for this one years ago.

Pink Striped Woven Shirt

Pink Striped Woven Shirt

The pink striped shirt was in a bag of goodies that was given to me… It was white with pink stripes, but had a spot on the front… Now that is hidden and the Pomegranate and Fuchsia dyes mixed were just the right color.

Pink Stripe and Blue Textured Shirts

Pink Stripe and Blue Textured Shirts

The pink shirt with one of my favorite formerly white shirts I wore for years… It has a nice texture to the fabric and after the dye it looks like new. One of the sweaters is a grayish blue, so I tried the Midnight Blue on it’s own…. It is just the right shade!

Textured Shirt in Midnight Blue

Textured Shirt in Midnight Blue

Textured Shirt in Midnight Blue Back

Textured Shirt in Midnight Blue- Back

New Socks in Shoes- Just playing around with one shoe of each pair.

New Socks in Shoes- Just playing around with one shoe of each pair.

My first experiment with dyeing socks…. Now that I wear shoes that show my socks I am paying more attention to them…  I usually wear matching shoes out 🙂

Puple and Mixed Blue Shirts

Puple and Mixed Blue Shirts

More blue and purplish… The shirt with the butterflies was dyed a pale, pale blue a few years ago and collected a few stains since it was a nice comfortable shirt to wear in the gardens… There are butterflies on it to hide a spot that the dye didn’t hide… the upper one is another of my plain white shirts that was worn quite a bit… Done in the purple made from Cerulean Blue and Fuchsia 1:1.

Purple Shirt Front

Purple Shirt Front- Some of the scrunches almost look flowery…

Mixed Blues Shirt with Fabric Butterflies Fused On

Mixed Blues Shirt with Fabric Butterflies Fused On

New Shirts with Sweaters

New Shirts with Sweaters

The two sweaters I wanted shirts to coordinate with… I had been just wearing the white shirts with them, but wanted to wear more color with them… The colors worked! I counted 6 more shirts of various types (two are new ones) that will also get dyed… I just need to figure out what colors to use… I will probably try a deeper purple and maybe some different pinks…

This post isn’t really art quilt related, I am linking this to Off The Wall Fridays hosted by Nina Marie. The fabrics will eventually end up in some of my art pieces, so I guess it will fit… Click on the link to check out Nina Marie’s blog, then check out some of the other blogs that are linked from there.

About

I am a former textile artist and new pattern designer with a degree in horticulture, wishing to share my love of nature, flowers and gardens with everyone through my photos, sunprinted fabrics, and now pattern designs. Chronic Lyme Disease has caused major changes to the direction my life. I have to limit the amount of time spent digging in my gardens, and quilting has become more difficult. I discovered pattern design as a way to get art back into my life. I now use my gardens and photos to inspire designs that can be used on fabrics and print on demand items.

7 comments on “Color in Dreary Winter!
  1. laurie says:

    Sue, I think your little bits of time are adding up! doing any bit of something creative each day can be calming and restorative–at least it is for me. I love my journal and my moleskin cover! Artfire didn’t have a place for me to comment since I got them in person.
    Wanted to add how nice your newly dyed shirt looked with your sweater!
    thanks again, Laurie

  2. shannon c. says:

    I love your dying experiments- I’m just getting into hand dying, have you experimented with dying sateen? I’m thinking of trying that. I especially like your overdyed woven shirt, I’ve often thought that would be a good way to rescue things with stains.

  3. Lisa says:

    You have been a busy busy dyer! I always love seeing what the fabric underneath does when I put my piece on a rack. Sometimes I like it more than the top piece. I’ve dyed fabrics for years but decided to take Jane’s class on craftsy because she is the master dyer. I’m amazed what I have learned already! It’s a great class!

  4. Lisa says:

    Oh and I forgot to mention how much I like all your dyed pieces! It seems nothing will be safe from the dye at your house! Watch out Roxie 😉

  5. I have been in a lot of pain too…so I feel for you. I’ve done a little snow dyeing this year (two batches…well..ok, one batch of ice dyeing and one of snow dyeing)…never enough! Nicely done…and love the greenhouse!

  6. sonja says:

    love the socks Sue!!
    i too have shirts colorful by paints
    ususally takes about a year to get a good one going with brush wipes, hand wipes and oops clean upcloth! nice post,
    sonja

  7. Mary says:

    Wonderful colors are present inside despite the dreary out of doors. You really blogged and posted so many pictures…. great job!